1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to surgical needles. More specifically, it relates to a surgical needle including a jam cleat for preventing slippage of suture.
2. Description of the Related Art
Suture is used in all aspects of surgery, including tying off blood vessels, wound closure, and repairing injured tissue (tendons, ligaments, muscle, etc.). Suture is commonly manufactured with an attached needle that is used to pass suture through tissue. Often, however, surgeons use suture that is not pre-attached to needles. These sutures, commonly called “ties,” may be used without a needle or combined with a needle that has no attached suture, commonly referred to as a free needle. Free needles may also be used to continue sewing a piece of suture that has broken or become detached.
Free needles include an opening (or eye) through which suture passes. The eye is generally oval-shaped with no mechanism to lock suture in place, allowing suture to escape with little force. This generally results in frustration for the surgeon and operative staff alike. What is needed is a quick and secure device for securing suture within the eye of a free needle. However, in view of the prior art considered as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art how the limitations of the art could be overcome.